First baseman Dantzler off to hot start for South Carolina

Clemson will have its hands full this weekend with the senior slugger, who's batting a robust .542 in six games to open the season.

By MATT CONNOLLYmatthew.connolly@shj.com

South Carolina first baseman LB Dantzler had a strong showing in preseason scrimmages leading up to the start of the 2012 season, but struggled early once the at-bats started counting. The senior opted to take a different approach this year, and his swing appeared to need serious work as USC prepared for its season-opener in February.“LB hadn’t been swinging the bat very well. He’s struggled since he’s been back in January,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said after Carolina’s opener on Feb. 15.Dantzler had a perfectly good explanation, though.“It was part of the plan,” he joked. “I was going to do bad on purpose in the preseason.”In reality it was likely a hand injury that required surgery this offseason that caused Dantzler’s struggles leading up to the start of the season. Whatever was wrong with his swing has certainly been fixed.You’d be hard-pressed to find a hitter in the country having a better start to the year. Going into this weekend’s series against Clemson, he’s batting .542 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in just six games.“He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now. He has some pop in his bat; he’s doing a much better job of using the whole field. Several of his hits have been to left field,” Holbrook said.“He’s off to a great, great start. He’s certainly a threat in the middle of our lineup.”This past weekend against Albany, Dantzler was a big reason why USC earned the series sweep.He went 9-for-13 in the series (.692) and had two homers, two doubles and 10 RBIs in the three games.“He’s putting good swings on it. Even the balls he fouls back he’s just missing,” Holbrook said. “He’s a senior and we needed him to get off to this type of start.”The captain was named SEC Player of the Week after tying three Carolina Stadium records for a three-game series with 17 total bases, nine hits and six runs scored.The nine hits in the series is the most in a three-game series at Carolina Stadium since Jackie Bradley Jr. tallied nine in a three-game series vs. Vanderbilt (May 1-3, 2009). In addition, he had the most total bases since Nick Ebert finished with 17 vs. Georgia (May 14-16, 2009) and the most runs since Bradley Jr. had six vs. Mississippi State (April 2-4, 2010).Dantzler said he couldn’t put up numbers like that without his teammates doing their jobs.“I’m feeling good up there, but I can’t do any of this without my teammates on base,” he said. “All the credit goes to them.”